Issue 16 by Elements Magazine

Elements The Scientific Magazine of the University of Puget Sound

The Science

The Musical Musings of Einstein

Darkrooms

STRESS and you!

Issue 16, Fall 2014

Resuscitating Rivers of the Pacific Northwest Traumatic Brain Injuries

University of Puget Sound

Letter from the Editor Credits Editor-in-Chief: Kira Thurman Content Manager: Megan Reich Head Layout Editor: Blake Hessel Head Copy Editor: Kieran O’Neil Staff: David Santillan & Haila Schultz Campus Outreach: Angelica Kong & Jeremy Parker-Hoffman Front Cover Photo: Carolyn McCotter Back Cover Photo: Kira Thurman Table of Contents Photo: Megan Reich Allium Cover: Elements Staff CosmoNerd: Kieran O’Neil & Eric Nathanson CosmoNerd Photo: Blake Hessel

Acknowledgements We would like to thank the ASUPS Media Board for their continuous support.

Contacts & Publishing E-mail: elements@pugetsound.edu Web: http://clubs.ups.edu/clubs/elements Mail: ASUPS - Elements, University of Puget Sound, 1500 N Warner St. #1017, Tacoma, WA 98416 Published by Digital Print Services in Kent, WA

It is 8 pm in the 80-degree media room as I sit down to write this letter, surrounded by fans and ice water. I am really fortunate to have such an incredible publication team - they continuously give it all they’ve got as the hours race by and the workload does not diminish. Thank you for all the hard work and dedication you have put into this publication. From talented writers to a dedicated editing team to the people who whipped out amazing work at the last minute (thank you Marissa and Megan), so many people have come together to create a truly wonderful magazine. This issue, I wanted to resurrect the idea of the classical elements - earth, water, fire, and air - which graced the covers for the first five issues. This issue features ice crystals (water) taken by Carolyn McCotter while doing research with Professor Steven Neshyba. Captured with Scanning Electron Microscopy, these particular ice crystals have been exposed to salt, giving the normally smooth faces their interesting etched shape. Elements has been a passion of mine ever since I picked up a copy as a prospective student, one that has only grown through the years with my increasing involvement from writer and layout editor to Editor-in-Chief. I would like to thank Media Board and ASUPS for helping me transition into my new role as well as in our collective transition from the media house to the media offices. For this semester’s CosmoNerd, I would like to thank Kieran O’Neil and Eric Nathanson for standing in a refrigerator for an hour, wearing practically only furs! I was bundled up and even I was cold! Thank you also to the Slater staff for allowing us use of their fur room and resources - it was a magnificent backdrop for such magnificent models. Another big shout-out to Blake Hessel, our talented photographer and layout editor who provided many photos and dedicated much of his time to this publication.

This issue was published on paper from wellmanaged forests, controlled sources and recycled wood or fiber.

One last thing before I leave you all: I am very excited to announce that Elements Magazine has joined Instagram. Follow us @elementsmagazine to get your fix of science-related posts and updates about our magazine!

Recent science discoveries got you excited?

I truly hope that everyone has as much fun reading this magazine as I have had in helping to create it.

There’s a place for you here at Puget Sound. Elements wants writers, editors, media designers, and photographers interested in producing a scientific magazine once a semester. Make like margarine and support the spread of science!

Sincerely, Kira Thurman, Editor-in-Chief

What’s it gonna be, the red pill or the blue pill?

Express your interest at elements@pugetsound.edu

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Table of Contents Reading the Landscape: Natural History and Sense of Place

Eric Nathanson

Genetics of Schizophrenia 7 Victoria Chase

Marine Microplastics: An understudied issue 8 Nick Lyon

Is Time the Only Constant? 10 Megan Reich

The Science Behind Stress

Zuri Johnson

Ethanol Life 13 Juliana Echternach

The Troubles of Traumatic Brain Injuries 14 Margaret Cowles

Clogged: Environmental Costs of Damming the Pacific Northwest

The Sun Hasn’t Set on Darkrooms

Kieran O’Neil

Benjamin Greene

The Musical Makings of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity 20 Megan Reich

THE ALLIUM

What’s Global Warming? Chase Hutchinson

Elementian Humor 23 Kyle Kolisch

#SciencePeopleProblems 24 Megan Reich

Homing 26 Emily Smaldone

Dam! 27 Kyle Kolisch

Spooky Science 28 Marissa Croft

QUIZ: What Subatomic Particle Are You? Angelica Kong

Citations 30 CosmoNerd 31 University of Puget Sound

Reading the Landscape: Natural History and

S ens e of Place

was first introduced to the concept of reading the landscape in a course on natural history I took in high school. In this class, we read a book entitled Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England by Tom Wessel, a professor of environmental biology at Antioch New England Graduate School. In his book, Wessel uses etchings of various forest scenes to present “mysteries” to his reader. He then walks through each scene, examining the clues they provide, explaining what they mean, and eventually solving the question: “What has happened here?” Reading the Forested Landscape was my first introduction to thinking of landscapes in this way, but the concept is usually credited to May Watts, a naturalist, educator, and gardener at the Morton Arboretum in Illinois, in her 1957 book Reading the Landscape (Biology students might know Watts from her popular series of hand drawn pocket species finders). Watts seeks to tell the reader “good stories” and provide them with a host of techniques to enjoy the “diverting traveling companion” of ecology. Both Watts’ and Wessel’s books are written with an emphasis on accessibility. One need not be a trained scientist or a dedicated adventurer to enjoy reading the landscape or to find places to practice the craft. It is as simple as stepping outside.

E ric N athanson

cated guess, and then confirm this guess through further research. Reading the landscape is a lifelong skill, and it takes time and dedication to perfect. This article is meant as a primer for Western Washington, to give the reader an introductory suite of background knowledge on the landscapes around Puget Sound. Our history begins with the recession of the Puget Lobe at the end of the last glacial period. Prior to this time, the Puget Sound region was under some 4,000 feet of ice, a condition distinctly hostile to most forms of life. Following the retreat of the glaciers and the ending of the Missoula floods, Western Washington began to resemble the land we know today. Modern plants and animals began to dominate the ecosystems, and the geography and topography took on a recognizable form. Two types of

Above and right: two microenvironments on opposite sides of a small coastal hill show marked variation in understory community structure. Opposite: logging stumps at varying stages of reclamation.

Reading the landscape is an interdisciplinary mode of thinking that helps one to answer questions about an area and develop deeper bonds to the land. Reading landscapes is much like interpreting a language. At its simplest, it is identifying the species we see, much as a child first learns to identify the letters of the alphabet or their individual sounds. At its most complex, it is like a close reading of literature, allowing us to answer questions about what happened in places long before we were born and what they may look like long after we are gone. What a landscape has to tell you will depend on the phytogeographic region (the area with the same climate and plant communities) in which it is located and on the topography, substrate, and disturbance history of the site in question. This history ranges from the recent past of a few days ago to the ancient conditions of prehistory. In this way, reading the landscape is much like solving a mystery; you observe the clues landscapes provide, employ your intuition and knowledge to make an edu-

ecos y stems dominate this early m o d e r n Western Washington. The Douglas Fir-dominant forest ecosystem is the most familiar to residents today. The other major terrestrial ecosystem at the time was the Garry Oak Prairie, which today is restricted to a handful of areas, including the Mima Mounds and Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma. Garry Oak Prairie is a mid-secessionary community, meaning it needs intermittent disturbance, usually in the form of wildfires, to prevent

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P h oto s by B l a ke H e s s e l

other tree species from invading. The Prairies are dominated by bunch grasses and tall mature oaks, which support vastly different communities than do the Doug Fir forests. With the dominant prairie ecosystem and living megafauna, large tracts of Western Washington at one point must have looked like the African savannah. Archaeological and historical evidence suggests that the indigenous peoples of the Puget Sound region actively sustained the Garry Oak system through extensive, controlled burns. This practice was brought to an end by the arrival of western settlers, likely the cause of Garry Oak Prairie’s decline. A similar tale occurred in New England, which was dominated by fire-created coastal prairies, blueberry heaths and

fires. Due to the small number of large fires in Western Washington over the last several decades, we won’t spend too long on this aspect of reading here. If you are interested in learning more about fire impacts on the landscape, I invite you to do your own research and to check out the Staircase section of Olympic National Park where the North Fork of the Skokomish trail shows the effects of the 1985 Beaver Fire, an excellent case study. Logging is the other major source of disruption in Western Washington’s forests. Logging has been a significant part of the Washington economy since European settlers arrived, but the state never underwent the intense regimen of clear-cutting and large-scale sheep grazing that afflicted New England. Nonetheless, Washington’s logging history can still be seen while hiking through the forests. Areas that have been logged have a denser understory and lower canopy than older, less-disturbed forests, and the largest trees are smaller than in unlogged areas since these are usually the first to be harvested. For clear examples of how different logging regimens impact forests, check out UW’s Charles Pack Experimental Forest in Eatonville. After deforestation by logging practices, the landscape is often put to use for agricultural purposes. Similar to the function trees play on our own campus, one or a handful of trees are often left in grazing fields to provide shade for animals. These are commonly known as “lone pines”. When trees are surrounded by other trees in a forest, they grow rapidly and vertical, with branches high on the trunk and stretching upwards to breach the top of the canopy to outcompete other trees for sunlight. In contrast, when trees grow in an open field, such as one cleared for agriculture, they disperse to maximize leaf efficiency and prevent other trees from taking root. These trees have thick lower branches with leaves growing closer to the base of the tree, which spread outwards to maximize the ground coverage. Compare the branch structure of the Doug Firs around campus to those in Olympic National Park or Point Defiance for a good example, or even those on Todd Field and those in the President’s Woods. Older trees retain this growth pattern even if forest is allowed to return and grows around them. If you ever find a Doug Fir or other conifer with low hanging branches in the middle of the woods, you’ll know you’re likely standing in an old pasture. This pattern can also appear for large deciduous trees like oaks and maples, but it is far less common.

undergrowth-less mature pine forest prior to European arrival. Like the Garry Oak Prairie, this ecosystem patchwork disappeared with European fire suppression. Due to heavy fire suppression in Western Washington, it is now the absence of fires that can be read in the landscape. Denser forest undergrowth, increased detritus build-up, thicker canopies, and a lack of prairies are the sigils of fire suppression. Fires have their own dialect within the landscape language; much may be determined about a fire from reading the burned land, including its time of occurrence, its intensity (how large or hot it burned), and the amount of time between recent and past

The signs for downed trees that were not logged are very different, and the evidence of their passing remains long after the fallen log has rotted away. The two most recognizable clues are pillows/cradles and marching lines. Pillows are formed when a tree is blown over and the roots are pulled out of the ground, rather than the trunk splitting. With the mass of roots and dirt (called a root ball) now in the air, a deep depression is left in the ground. As the root ball decomposes it forms a hump in the earth, often called a “pillow”, which is particularly noticeable in relation to the excavated hole, known as the “cradle”. Several of these structures together will give the landscape an undulating appearance like miniature dunes and is the indication of a particularly strong wind storm which blew over the largest, least sheltered, trees.

University of Puget Sound

Marching lines are caused by an ecological feature called nurse logs. This feature is particularly common in PNW forests due to the dominance of Doug Fir. Nurse logs are formed from fallen conifers. Because conifers rot slowly, they develop a thick layer of moss, ferns, and young trees growing on them that feast on the nutrients stored within the wood. As the trees mature, the log continues to rot, eventually leaving behind a series of trees growing in a straight row with above-ground roots interwoven with each other - an outline of where the nurse log used to be. Next time you take a walk through the woods, check out the small scale topography of the area and look for nurse logs, marching lines, pillows, and cradles, all of which compose the texture of the ground. Reading the landscape can serve many purposes. As Watts suggests in the introduction to her book, it can simply be an amusing way to think about the landscapes in which one recreates. It may also serve as an important part in one’s spiritual journey: to find a sense of place through illuminating the hidden secrets of an area. Reading the landscape has scientific uses as well. It enables one to become a more meaningful contributor to citizen science efforts, helping to establish baselines, document changes, and identify questions about ecology and conservation that have yet to be asked. If you find reading the landscape interesting, I invite you to try and hone your own skills. Start learning about the plants and animals in your local area. Teach yourself to identify them at a glance. Know where they can be found, what their presence indicates, and what impact they have on their local environment. The next time you go for a walk, see if you can find evidence of the place’s history in the landscape. Are there lone pines in the woods? Pillows and cradles? Is the understory open or thick? How big are the oldest trees? What changes occur as you move up and down in elevation? What clues are appropriate for other areas, such as meadows or deserts? See if you can figure out what these clues might mean, then read up on the history of the area and see if it matches your guesses in the field. Above all, never stop learning about the natural world in which you reside. If you would like to learn more about reading the landscape, I highly recommend Tom Wessel’s Reading the Forested Landscape. His pocket guide, Forest Forensics, the more geology-focused Reading the Granite Landscape, and May Watts’ Reading the Landscape and Reading the Landscape of America also should not be missed. Along with Eugene Kozloff’s Plants and Animals of the Pacific Northwest, which explores the region’s biodiversity and natural history in greater depth, a collection of field guides and pocket finders is an invaluable resource, as is the campus’ Slater Museum of Natural History. For a fascinating account of the deep history of North America and an example of some truly large-scale landscape reading, Tim Flannery’s The Eternal Frontier is a must read. If you wish to improve your observational skills, Alexandra Horowitz’ On Looking is a wonderful start for developing this critical skill. Indeed, anything that furthers your knowledge of the natural sciences, hones your wilderness skills, and enriches your understanding of local history will prove invaluable. So good luck, Sherlocks. Happy reading.

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Genetics of Schizophrenia W i k i m ed i a C o m m o n s

omplex brain disorders prove to be constant enigmas to the scientific community as they are often difficult to diagnose and treat with conventional drugs. To better understand complicated disorders, geneticists have recently turned to Genome-Wide Sequencing technology. In particular, one of the disorders that has traditionally been considered extremely hard to classify and treat is schizophrenia, a psychiatric disorder that produces a range of phenotypes (distinct characteristics that can be easily defined). With the development of Genome-Wide Sequencing (GWS) and the sequencing of the human genome, the genetic basis behind numerous human afflictions can be studied in detail for the first time. Unlike simple genetically-inherited traits (like pod shape in pea plants), schizophrenia is genetically complex and involves multiple genes to produce a phenotype (as is with most diseases). Thus, GWS can contribute to the understanding of the disease by looking at the genes that accompany the disorder. What is schizophrenia? It is a chronic, severe brain disorder that affects 1% of the population and can either manifest during childhood or later in life. It is characterized by hallucinations, delusions, thought disorders (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;disorganized thinkingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;), movement disorders (catatonic), disruption to normal emotions and behaviors, and other cognitive symptoms. Upon diagnosis, patients are normally categorized into one or more subtypes: paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, undifferentiated, and residual. While medication may help relieve symptoms, there is no cure for the disorder, and afflicted patients often refuse or avoid treatment.1, 2 In addition, as with many brain disorders, there is stigmatization surrounding schizophrenia patients because so little is known about the disorder. Up until recently, researchers could only identify a handful of genes that would increase a personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s risk of contracting schizophrenia. This uncertainty generates many conflicting theories about the mechanism behind the disorder. Recently, a genome-wide association comparison study conducted by researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine revealed some shocking news about schizophrenia: previously thought to be a single psychiatric disorder, schizo-

V ictoria C hase

phrenia is actually eight different disorders according to evidence from the GWS comparison study.3, 4 At the Washington University School of Medicine, researchers compared three genome-wide association studies and created genetic profiles for patients and relations. This study relied on analysis of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), single base-pairs in the nucleotide sequence that vary from person to person. By comparing SNPs of individuals with schizophrenia to those of unaffected individuals, researchers located 42 interactive SNP sets characterized by a 70% risk for contracting schizophrenia and 98 sets with a 66% risk, which were accountable for 90% of the schizophrenia cases in the comparison study. These SNP sets are located in genes that are involved in the inheritance of schizophrenia.4 In addition to their discovery, SNP sets were found to be differentially associated with specific phenotypes of the disease and could provide a basis for disease classification. Using genotypicphenotypic relationships, researchers categorized schizophrenia into eight separate disorders; differentiation was based loosely on characteristics used in subtyping schizophrenia, such as positivity or negativity of symptoms. Positive symptoms are those exclusively expressed by schizophrenics and not by the rest of the population (such as hallucinations or delusions), while negative symptoms are those characteristics absent in schizophrenics that are exhibited by the rest of the population (such as emotional inhibition and inability to experience pleasure).4 While this study represents a giant step forward and opens a window into the complex heritability of schizophrenia, it also poses additional follow-up questions. For instance, the inheritance for the other 10% of unaccountable cases of schizophrenia may provide new clues to additional SNP sets associated with schizophrenia. There are also limitations to the genotypicphenotypic relationships provided, as these phenotypes were self-reported by schizophrenics and may not accurately portray actual symptoms. However, this study does offer a closer look at the genetic mechanisms behind these different schizophrenic manifestations, providing information that can be used in the development of medication to treat complex and negative symptoms that do not respond well to traditional modes of treatment.

University of Puget Sound

MARINE MICROPL ASTICS: An understudied issue

lastic is something very few of us can imagine living without. It can be found in an incredibly diverse group of consumer and industrial products - in fact, as you are reading this, you are probably within three feet of at least one item incorporating plastic compounds. And there is good reason for its stunning ubiquity; plastic is cheap to produce on a grand scale, tolerant of a wide range of temperatures, and impressively durable. However, the same qualities that make plastic so useful in day-to-day life also make it a harmful and persistent pollutant, especially in marine environments. Plastics that reach landfills can reside there for years and remain chemically unchanged, with some of this debris inevitably ending up in marine and aquatic habitats.1 It is suspected this debris accumulates over time, especially in coastal waters.2 Therefore, organisms residing in such habitats inevitably interact with this debris. There are multiple pathways by which plastics can become a hazard to marine organisms. The first, and perhaps the most intuitive, is that organisms can mistake plastic for prey and ingest it, leading to a vast array of health complications. In addition to increasing the risk of choking, plastic can fill animal stomachs and thereby prevent the ingestion of real food. You may have noticed people cut the rings of plastic six-pack holders before recycling them; the theory behind this is that seabirds and other marine organisms can get stuck in them, leading to painful and sometimes fatal consequences. Though this practice makes sense, it also indicates an ingrained social assumption that discarded plastics will enter marine environments. In addition to the physical complications associated with plastics, there are some further implications stemming from the molecular composition of plastics. While plastics are not usually toxic in and of themselves, the chemical composition of plastic facilitates the absorption of contaminants and harmful toxins from ocean water.3 These compounds are known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and include hexanes and uncombined plastic monomers among other chemicals.3 They are also a byproduct of human development.3 The majority of these chemicals are bio-accumulative (can travel up a food chain) in addition to being persistent and toxic.2, 3, 4 The effects of POPs can also be exacerbated in a process known as biomagnification, in which they become increasingly concentrated on their way up a food chain to dominant vertebrate predators like birds and marine mammals.2, 5 It is thus easy to assume that only animals capable of ingesting plastic are negatively affected by it while animals sampling a smaller range of food items would remain largely unscathed. Unfortunately, chemical-, bacterial-, thermal-, and photo-deg-

N ick Lyon

radation all contribute to the breakdown of plastic into particles that can be small enough for zooplankton and filter-feeding organisms to ingest, thus starting a trophic cascade effect.3, 4, 6 This means that not only can an organism ingest plastic through primary ingestion (the organism ingests a piece of plastic as a mistaken prey item), but also through secondary ingestion, in which an organism ingests another organism that ingested plastic. Through this process, plastics can theoretically move up a food chain and magnify the health detriments on their way up to apex predators. I say â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;theoreticallyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; because thus far the bulk of this research remains unconducted. Microplastic contamination is almost completely unstudied, as you can tell from the fact that a majority of the papers cited in this article were only written in the last three years. Despite the potentially substantial consequences for marine ecosystems, this is an issue that is almost completely unknown, exposing a significant scientific knowledge gap in its subsequent relevance to human activity and behavior. In an effort to begin filling in this gap, I spent this past summer looking into microplastic concentrations within mussels of the Mytilus genus around Puget Sound. Mussels of this genus are an ideal model organism to monitor the effects of biocontaminants and are already used for several pollution monitoring programs across the nation.2, 7, 8 Similar to other filter feeders, mussels use cilia to create a current that indiscriminately pushes particles toward a filament, which then redirects these particles into the gut for digestion.6, 9, 10, 11 This feeding habit allows them to sample any particulates in the water where they reside, including microplastics.

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I sampled mussels from five locations around Puget Sound and found 100% frequency of plastic occurrence. This means that all of the mussels I examined had some measurable level of microplastic contamination. After analysis and further discussion with Professor Joel Elliott, I proposed location-linked differences in contamination level may be due to the volume of water moving by those mussels during tidal shifts.

P h oto s by N i c k Lyo n

Whether or not this hypothesis is supported by my data, the seeming ubiquity of contamination in mussels I examined over the summer points to more serious trends in Puget Sound’s waters and possibly beyond. It is anyone’s guess as to how microplastic contamination in a human being (we are functionally apex predators, so trophic transfer applies to us) would lead to measurable health detriments, but it is certainly an interesting and worthwhile future avenue of research. The data I have collected does sugMicrograph image of gest that trophic transfer microplastic fragment could be facilitated as early extracted from Mytilus as secondary consumers (producers to zooplankton tissue. to mussels), which simultaneously engenders concern and provides a novel and exciting opportunity for research. Though these results do support a theory of widespread plastic contamination of key marine habitats, it is better to view this as motivation to do more, not an excuse to do less. By reducing our consumption of one-use plastic products, using reusable water bottles, and generally increasing our consciousness of what we’re using and how we’re using it, we can begin to reduce the impact of plastic pollution in marine environments and beyond.

University of Puget Sound

Is Time The Only Constant? Exploring the changing currents of the fourth dimension

ur everyday lives are dictated by the constant ticking of the clock. The division of our activities into hours and minutes preserves a regularity of routine in which we find comfort. Yet despite appearances, time can be quite fickle. Time is subject to perspective. And in that sense, it is always changing; how we measure time largely determines how we perceive it. Pre-industrialization, human lives were centered around the sun. With the invention of the mechanical clock came the hectic pace of modern-day cities - now, the urban 21st century human is bombarded with incoming stimuli. From traffic to news media to social networking, we are constantly engaged in an incessant stream of ongoing communication with our surrounding society.1 This multitude of interruptions in our immediate surroundings activates a network of nerve cells in the brain known as the locus coerulus, or “blue” nucleus. When our cell phone suddenly vibrates, the blue nucleus releases the neurotransmittor noradrenaline, causing our blood pressure to rise and pulse to quicken. The effect of new stimuli acts like a drug; indeed, the nerve paths travelled are the same ones activated in the presence of nicotine and cocaine.2 As a result, we fall victim to distraction, ignoring our own inner rhythm amidst the activity around us. Concentration becomes a distant desire, and time seems ever-fleeting. Consequently, we become preoccupied with our past interactions and anxious over future plans – the present, as it would seem, is slipping further and further from our grasp. In today’s Western culture, to fill one’s time with tasks and To-Do lists is equated to having an admirable work ethic.2 But what is time exactly? Is there a “real” time that exists beyond our limited perspective? The Physics of Time The notion of time’s dual nature – that there exists a “perceived” time and real or “true” time - can be traced to the ideas of Isaac Newton as expressed in his revolutionary “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica,” better known simply as the Principia. In his desire to both set future contemplations of the cosmos within the foundation of mathematics and to uncover the true

M egan R eich

chronology of human history, Newton established the idea of “absolute time.” Newton’s time represents a universal, God-like unit of fundamental physics, a dimension human beings can only approximate. Instead, we experience what Newton called “common time” – a measurement of duration by some reference (like the earth’s orbit around the sun). Several hundred years later, however, Einstein dispelled the notion of absolute time. By connecting time and space through his theory of relativity, Einstein recognized measurements of time as delineated by the differences in relative motion between the observer and object. While the speed of light itself is constant, the time it takes for an object to travel completely depends on the observer’s position, perspective, and motion.3 Despite its absurd first impressions, this new concept of time has shed light on the way our bodies mark time by their own beats in a constantly changing world. The Biology of Time The human body is driven by a multitude of biological clocks. Rather than having one central tracking system, we perceive the past, present, and future through interactions of many mechanisms in the brain. This is a concept with roots in the evolutionary psychology theory of the modular mind – the idea that the human mind is composed of many independent specialized components that have arisen over the course of evolutionary time.4 While we rely on the memory of our prefrontal cortex to comprehend longer time intervals, other areas of the brain (those that regulate motor control and rhythm) enable us to perceive shorter time intervals. Warren Meck, a neuroscientist at Duke University, calls our brain’s understanding of shorter time intervals “time stamp events.” In general terms, Meck explains that a multitude of pacemakers oscillate simultaneously in the brain at independent rates. By combining different pacemakers to create a new rhythm, the brain can remember an infinite number of tempos. We can make and retain a tempo that corresponds to a specific duration, such as the length of a certain traffic light.2

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For day-to-day functions, however, the body relies on one of the more familiar timekeeping mechanisms of the brain - the circadian cycle, a 24-hour rhythm that regulates sleep patterns and other psychological processes. This cycle of hormonal and neuronal activity is directed by a small area in the brain’s midline known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN).2 When a person is concealed from daylight, the SCN will emit recurrent electrical signals that create a “biological day.” This day, however, does not correlate perfectly to reality. On average, the cycle lasts approximately 24 hours and 5-30 minutes, depending on the individual. The length of a person’s cycle is known as their “chronotype.” Popular culture reduces the continuous spectrum chronotypes to 2 varieties - “early birds” (cycles closer to 24 hours long) and “night owls” (cycles closer to 24 ½ hours long). All of this variation exists in just one of the brain’s mechanisms; include other factors, and this perception becomes all the more powerful. At the same time, however, the SCN also relies on environmental cues to “reset” these slight deviations in the biological clock. Called “entrainment”, this process essentially compresses or expands the “internal day” to match the “external day.” When a pair of nuclei at the intersection of the two optic nerves senses the first rays of morning light, they signal the SCN to begin waking the body. The time we experience as one continuous circadian rhythm is actually a result of the complex interplay between internal and external cues acting upon the SCN.2 Of course, our circadian rhythms are not adapted to the amplified night life of modern-day living. German chronobiologist Till Roenneburg describes this disconnect between our biologi-

cal time and our social time as “social jet lag.” Unlike simple jet lag, the exhaustion that results from long-term irregular sleep-schedules is chronic.5, 6 But it is not only human circadian rhythms that have been disturbed. A study performed in 2013 found significant differences between the activity patterns of forest-dwelling and city-dwelling European songbirds, suggesting that organisms actively adapt chronotype and circadian behaviors to better cope with urban environments.7 How can we create solutions and work towards achieving a better relationship with time in this fast-paced information age? Our fast-paced, future-obsessed mindset has deep cultural roots; perhaps instead we should look to societies that offer different perspectives. Take the Japanese concept of ma – a word that literally means “a space full of nothing.” Ma values the state of meditation that comes with free time between objects and activities, echoing Buddhist values of keeping the conscious engaged in the present moment. The fundamental goal of practically all forms of meditation involves finding a state of focus, a constant engagement of perception. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has used this idea to develop his concept of “flow” – a term that describes those rare moments in which we are completely absorbed in the here and now.8 The key to what Csikszentmihalyi calls “a state of complete and effortless concentration” is the optimal density of information being processed in the brain. The intense mindfulness of the present evades the boredom of ease or frustration from excessive difficulty.2, 8 By opening our minds to the perceptions that surround us, we can learn to take a minute out of our hectic lives and truly appreciate that minute - time doesn’t have to be against us. I l l u s t r at i o n s by Ky l e Ko l i s c h

University of Puget Sound

The Science Behind STRESS by

Z uri J ohnson

weaty palms, shaky hands and a fast heartbeat are responses to stress with which most people are all too familiar. However, the physiology behind these reactions is not as well understood. Why do our bodies react to stress in this way? How do common stress reducers like exercise and meditation physiologically actually reduce stress? What causes the long-term consequences of stress, such as high blood pressure, skin problems and weight gain? First, it is necessary to define the term “stress”. There is a distinct difference between the meaning of the word when your friend exasperatedly says “I have so much to do, I am so stressed” and the evolved biological stress. Biological stress is the evolved and metabolic neurohormonal response to acute threats commonly referred to as “fight or flight”.1 For our prehistoric ancestors, these “threats” were often very acute, like a predator attacking them. In modern society, the word “stress” does not often imply a problem that is acute, but rather connotes a general feeling of being overwhelmed. In other words, the “threats” we face, like oncoming paper deadlines or job interviews, are more benign than those faced by our hunter-gatherer precursors. However, if a person has chronically-high stress levels, the same physiological mechanisms that are activated in “flight or fight” situations will be continually activated, which means that the general feeling of being overwhelmed can transform into the biological stress present in acutely-stressful situations. Because both scenarios activate the same biological pathways, the stress experienced by many chronically-overwhelmed individuals in modern society is equivalent to the stress one would feel if constantly being chased by a lion.2 The above mentioned biological pathway for stress can be activated by either a psychological or biogenic stressor. Psychosocial stressors are either “real or imagined environmental events” that have the potential to elicit a stress response. Psychosocial stressors are different for every person. As the neurologist Everly artfully said, “stressors, like beauty, reside in the eye of the beholder.” 3 For example, one person may be too stressed to sleep when they see a spider in their room while another person may study spiders for a living. Before a psychosocial stressor actually elicits a stress response, however, the potential stressful stimuli first goes through cognitive appraisal. Cognitive appraisal is how a person assigns meaning to the world around them, which in turn determines whether a psychological stimuli becomes a psychological stressor or not. In other words, the individual’s

reaction to the stressor (fear of spiders) rather than the stressor itself (spiders) activates the biological stress pathway. To prove this point, Hans Selye, known as the father of endocrinology, summarized over 50 years of research on the stress response with the statement “It is not what happens to you that matters, but how you take it.”3 However, biogenic stressors like caffeine and nicotine and certain physical factors such as extreme heat, cold, or pain-evoking stimuli completely bypass the cognitive appraisal process. This means they activate the biological stress pathways regardless of how a person reacts to them. For this reason, health professionals advise people against consuming substances like nicotine and caffeine in large quantities; not only do they negatively impact a person in the same way chronic stress does, but the human body has no way of coping with them since these stressors bypass the cognitive appraisal pathways.3 The symptoms of chronic stress due to the continual activation of biological stress pathway are well-known, but the question remains: why do these symptoms occur? The general answer is that these symptoms are consequences of the “flight-or-flight” response by the constant activation of the autonomic nervous system. When a threat is perceived, the autonomic nervous system automatically stimulates a lot of different areas in the body. Some of these activation targets include the release of stress hormones by the adrenal cortex, increases in heart rate, inspiration, and expiration, and metabolic stimulation by the thyroid. The overstimulation of these pathways is what produces the commonly-known stress symptoms. How this overstimulation causes one of these symptoms - memory loss - is discussed below. Memory is largely impacted by the release of stress hormones. The hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory formation, organization, and storage, is especially susceptible to stress hormones that are released from the adrenal cortex after a perceived threat. Researchers at the Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology found that these stress hormones decrease dentate gyrus volume throughout the course of a person’s life and change the dendritic structure of the hippocampus. These two effects impact both long-term memory and the formation of new memories because the dentate gyri are responsible for the formation of episodic memories (who, what, where, why and when knowledge) and the dendrites are responsible for processing incoming information.4

Elements Magazine

Researchers at the University of Iowa found that the impact of chronic stress on memory is irreversible by examining the memory recall ability of older rats with differing levels of corticosterone (a stress hormone) in their blood. The researchers tested the rats’ capacity to remember which path of a twoarmed maze contained a food reward following varying periods of delay and found that rats with higher levels of corticosterone had a significantly decreased ability to recall the correct arm of the maze. This study demonstrates the permanent damage chronic stress may inflict on brain function.5 While it might seem like there is no way to escape the negative effects of stress, luckily there are some measures that can be taken to lessen the physiological burden stress places on the human body. Regular exercise has been found to reorganize the brain in a way that enhances its resilience to stress. Researchers

at Princeton University measured the differing stress response of rats that had been sedentary for 6 weeks and those that had been running on a running wheel every night. When the researchers doused the rats in cold water, they found rats in the sedentary group exhibited immediate activation of short-lived genes called “immediate early genes”, which switched the rats into an excited state. In rats that had been exercising, these genes were not activated; thus, the rats were able to stay more calm under stressful conditions. Additionally, regularly-exercising rats exhibited a boost of inhibitory neurons when doused with water, further maintaining their calm response. Exercise decreased the negative impacts of stress because the inhibitory neurons and lack of immediate early genes decreased magnification of the biological stress pathway, so the negative health impacts of stress were likewise minimized.6

Ethanol Life by

J uliana E cht ernach

P h oto by P r e s e l y Re ed

ith the rapid increase of Carbon Dioxide emissions and the environmental effects of climate change becoming ever-more prevalent, the demand for alternative energy intensifies. Since the 1970s, Brazil has discovered and optimized a way to utilize ethanol found in sugarcane and incorporate this in a fuel mixture to power cars. A renewable alcohol produced from plants such as corn or sugarcane, ethanol can be utilized as an effective gasoline blend, resulting in decreased carbon dioxide emissions and, subsequently, diminished oil dependence. Together the United States and Brazil produced 87.1% of the world’s ethanol production in 2011, with Brazil producing 21.1 billion liters of the entire ethanol yield that year.1 Because ethanol is renewable and does not contribute to CO2 emissions, it provides multiple benefits for Brazil. For instance, the production of ethanol has a positive carbon absorption, meaning that the growth of sugarcane absorbs more carbons than are emitted when ethanol burns. It also boasts low production prices, as ethanol production from sugarcane costs less than other forms of ethanol production.

However, even with its multiple advantages, ethanol production and usage as car fuel does have some drawbacks. The mass production of sugarcane and its rapid expansion has resulted in increased deforestation and the unethical exploitation of agricultural workers.2 The many pros and cons associated with ethanol usage demonstrates the complexity in the search for finding clean energy and how there is no perfect solution to the energy crisis in which we currently find ourselves.

University of Puget Sound

the troubles of

Traumatic Brain Injuries

Children under four years old, young adults ages 15-24, and people over the age of 75 are statistically at higher risk of TBI.3 Complications associated with TBIs are numerous and diverse, ranging from higher risk for developing a neurodegenerative disease to increased likelihood of seizures, infections, and altered consciousness to cognitive, communicative, behavioral, or sensory problems. Sudden changes in emotion, fluid build-up, and nerve damage are also possible symptoms of TBIs.3 The signs and symptoms of TBIs are designated into four categories; “thinking and remembering”, “physical”, “emotional”, and “sleep”. A common sign of a TBI is impaired cognition, such as difficulty thinking clearly, remembering new information, and concentrating.1 Headaches, blurry vision, nausea and dizziness, light and sound sensitivity, difficulty balancing, and chronic exhaustion are common physical symptoms associated with TBIs.1 Patients with a TBI also have recorded experiencing enhanced emotional sensitivity as well as increased irritability, sadness, anxiety, and nervousness. Trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, and sleeping significantly more or less than usual also have been associated with TBIs.1 Seek medical attention if you experience a headache that does not go away or gets progressively

M argare t C owles

worse, numbness or weakness, decreased coordination, and slurred speech.1 If you encounter someone who appears drowsy and who cannot be woken, has differential pupil size, exhibits convulsions or seizures, is experiencing loss of consciousness or unusual behavior, has difficulty recognizing people or places, or is acting increasingly confused and agitated, seek immediate medical help.1 TBIs are characterized by the degree of their severity, ranging from mild (in which mental status and consciousness are briefly altered) to severe (which may result in amnesia or unconsciousness).1 Because TBIs are often emergent and can become worse if left untreated, the 15-point Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) was developed to assess the degree of brain damage.3 Following evaluation of speech coherence, specific limb mobility, and ability to follow directions appropriately, a numerical GCS is assigned to the patient defining their level of brain damage.3 An MRI or CT scan also may be performed to further assess the injury. Depending on the severity, TBIs can be treated with anything from rest and over-the-counter painkillers to surgery and long-term rehabilitation.3 Although around half of diagnosed cases are serious enough to require surgery, common disabilities resulting from TBIs include problems with cognition, sensory-processing, communication, and behavior.4 The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is currently conducting research on TBIs in order to better understand both the injury and brain response.4 Such research includes observation of “biological mechanisms underlying damage to the brain” in an attempt to more effectively determine the level of impairment, develop treatments to counteract further damage, and promote recovery.4 While not all injuries are preventable, preemptive measures may be taken to significantly reduce your chance of sustaining a traumatic brain injury. Only ride in cars with air bags, always wear your seatbelt, never drive while under the influence of drugs, alcohol, or other substances, and wear a helmet while riding bikes, skateboarding, and participating in any sport in which your head is at risk of sustaining injury.3

Elements Magazine

P h oto by J P H a l ve r s o n

f you play one of the 23 varsity sports at the University of Puget Sound or are involved in club or intramural sports, you could be at risk for traumatic brain injury. Even if you do not participate in a contact sport, traumatic brain injuries can occur if you sustain any kind of head trauma (caused by a serious fall, direct contact, whiplash, etc.) in which you experience brain dysfunction or disruption.1 While not all head injuries become TBIs, if left undiagnosed, a TBI can cause serious long-term effects. If you get hit in a game or sustain a fall, it is certainly worth going to the doctor to ensure you have not incurred a TBI. While TBIs are not commonly well-known, research estimates at least 1.5-2 million Americans a year are diagnosed with a TBI, with 270,000 suffering moderate to severe cases. Indeed, nearly 2.5 million TBIs were diagnosed in the year 2010 alone. Concussions, a type of TBI also caused by a fall or a blow to the head, comprise nearly 75% of diagnosed TBIs each year.1,2 TBIs also have potentially fatal ramifications, contributing to a third of all U.S. deaths relating to injury.2

CLOGGED Environmental Costs of Damming the

P h oto by K i e r a n O’ N e i l

Pacific Northwest

hen I was eleven, I remember taking a family trip to the Hoover Dam. I remember standing on my tiptoes to see over the wall, remember my stomach somersaulting as I peered down into the colossal stone bowl stretching 726 feet beneath my own like some twisted amusement park ride. I remember our tour guide saying things like “national monument” and “one of the greatest feats of American engineering”, his tongue dripping with paternalistic pride. But most of all I remember the river ‒ restrained, congested, stifled. And I remember wondering why this was something to celebrate.

K ieran O’N eil

of dams and how they have come to shape the natural landscape we call home.

While hydroelectric dam facilities exist in a variety of forms (water collection, energy conversion, electricity storage, etc.), all function according to the same general principle: generation of electricity by harnessing the kinetic energy of moving water and converting it into electric power.2 Therefore, most hydroelectric projects are constructed on rivers with strong streamflow, where conduit turbines function like irrigation canals through which the water passes. Powered by the movement of the water, these blades are connected to a shaft Indeed, we as a speand generator which cies take blind pride produces the power in our own parasent to homes and citsitic tendencies; we ies via transmission choose to perceive the lines.3 However, in Hoover Dam as the restricting water flow paramount symbol of through small chan“American ingenuity nels, dams fundamenand mechanical powtally alter the natural er” rather than the structure of the river, death cry of the Colinflicting severe and orado River. Howlong-lasting environever, the rate at which mental impacts on the we are engineering This rusty bolt is skeletal residue from the dam that once clogged the Lower surrounding riparian natural landscapes is Elwha River - a solemn reminder of our lasting environmental impact on ripar- system both upstream currently unsustainand downstream. ian landscapes. able, and such projects often inflict extensive and enduring deleterious effects upon the Diminished Water Quality ecosystems in which they are implemented. This is especially true of hydroelectric dams, which not only physically obstruct By plugging a river with a dam, water inevitably accumulates the flow of rivers ‒ halting all riparian processes “downstream” faster on one side than on the other; therefore, dams often facil‒ but effectively change river ecosystems upstream through the itate the creation of a reservoir or lake upstream of the facility. creation of reservoirs. These man-made lakes fundamentally change river dynamics, significantly decreasing the flow rate and causing widespread While not the dominant source of energy in the United States, flooding upstream and diminished flow downstream.4 Reserhydroelectric power is certainly a significant contributor, curvoirs also affect the water quality itself, exacerbating the effects rently producing 66.8% of total renewable power via nearly of thermal stratification (slow-moving water absorbs heat from 2,500 dam facilities.1 And about 80% of this hydroelectric powthe sun as colder water sinks to the bottom) and supersaturation er is generated by dams in the Pacific Northwest alone, where (increased nitrogenation of the water), creating nitrogen-rich, heavy precipitation and dramatic changes in elevation render oxygen-poor environments downstream.5 Significant differit particularly suitable for dam construction and strong water ences in water quality also have the capacity to disrupt both flow.1 Therefore, it is especially important that we as residents ecological and physiological processes downstream; decreases of the Pacific Northwest understand the structure and function in available oxygen and lethal amounts of nitrogen create unsuitable environments for fish and other aquatic species.4,5

University of Puget Sound

Changing Water Levels Increasing water levels upstream effectively cover naturally-existing riverbank and riparian areas, facilitating changes in habitat conditions and ecosystem dynamics (decreased water and sediment movement, elimination of habitat, etc.).4 The resulting environmental transition to a more stagnant and sequestered system creates prime habitat for common lake vegetation like duckweed, bladderwort, and cattails as well as phytoplankton, insects, fish, amphibians, waterfowl, and other lacustrine species.6 Constantlychanging water levels downstream of hydroelectric dams have the opposite effect, preventing the establishment of certain riparian species and inhibiting the formation of more permanent aquatic habitats. Sedimentation With restricted water flow and increased erosion, critical sediment tends to build upstream of the dam in a process called sedimentation. This sediment - crucial for the transport of important organic and inorganic nutrients - is unable to move past the dam, subsequently diminishing habitat conditions downstream. Nutrient-loading upstream can also produce “algal blooms” (the rapid proliferation of microscopic algae) which consume all available oxygen in the water and produce vast quantities of the greenhouse gas methane.7 This phenomenon depletes the amount of free oxygen in the water available for other aquatic organisms, often leading to suffocation and death. Furthermore, decreased sediment movement affects the physical underwater landscape of the river bed, destroying critical salmon spawning grounds.4 Fish Dam construction also exerts significant influence on fish, particularly on salmon species adapted to a narrow range of riparian conditions. Perhaps most obviously, the structure of the dam itself acts as a physical barrier; the spinning turbines and small channels can inflict serious stress, injury, or death upon young salmon swimming downstream or adults returning upstream to their spawning grounds. In most cases, the passage to spawning grounds is completely obstructed, effectively preventing the reproduction of salmon upstream.4,7 The implementation of “fish ladders” to facilitate fish transport, while somewhat effective, does not ensure the safe transport of all fish past the dam structure and only inflicts undue stress through physiological loss of energy and time. Disorientation, consolidation at the mouth of the channels, and increased travel time also increase their risk of depredation, further harming overall populations. (1) Migrating fish are also affected by changes in the ecological structure imposed by the reservoir; disturbances downstream, such as diminished water quality and changing water levels, often lead to the decline of macroscopic plant species upon which

salmon are nutritionally-dependent.4 Decreases in overall fish populations as a result of these deleterious effects also have affected fishermen and subsistence communities along the river, resulting in the creation and implementation of fish hatcheries to supplement fish populations. Indeed, hatchery fish currently comprise 75% of the entire salmon population in the Pacific Northwest.4 This accelerated introduction of hatchery fish into wild rivers is now raising serious concerns about the genetic and ecological effects of interbreeding populations, which affect

Elements Magazine

While the environmental impacts are numerous and extensive, there is a reason hydroelectric power accounts for 2/3 of all electric power in the Pacific Northwest - it is often praised as a “clean”, efficient, and cheap source of energy. (1) Indeed, unlike the burning of fossil fuels, no pollutants or fumes are produced during the energy-production process. In addition to providing a reliable source of energy for thousands of homes, hydroelectric dams are also inexpensive to operate and provide valuable job opportunities for local communities in their construction and maintenance. Furthermore, hydroelectric dams also have been used as flood-prevention, water-storage for irrigation during dry seasons, and water-supply for local drinking needs.2 New Reality of Dam Removal

In the wake of dam removal, the Elwha is slowly returning to its former glory. Above: early riparian plant life sprouts along the ground of what was once Lake Aldwell fruits of the largescale restoration efforts currently being undertaken. At left: the Lower Elwha flows unrestricted past the prior dam site.

the gene pool, viability, health, and abundance of wild salmon. Other Wildlife

Riparian ecosystems also cultivate critical aquatic and terrestrial habitat for birds, waterfowl, and mammals. But this habitat is all too often destroyed by the construction of hydroelectric dams. Diminished water quality, changing water levels, sedimentation, erosion, and physical construction of the dam can remove crucial nesting sites, foraging areas, and shelter, inducing niche abandonment as organisms are pushed further from the riparian zone.7 This movement shift increases species’ susceptibility to depredation and resource limitations in unfavorable habitats. The construction of reservoirs also fosters conditions favorable to invasive or introduced species such as lacustrine weeds, mussels, small bottom-feeding fish (lamprey, goby), and water fleas.6 Perhaps of even greater concern is the increasing dependency of certain migratory waterfowl (such as the Canada goose) on the habitat provided by hydroelectric reservoirs, which is used to supplement traditional wetlands along migratory routes.4

In spite of these immediate economic and social benefits, current research continues to assert the overwhelming and enduring environmental costs associated with hydroelectric dams. Old, inefficient, and non-operational dams are under particular scrutiny by various environmental, political, and social groups challenging their continued operation/maintenance. Indeed, there is now heightened precedent for the removal of these dams; the successful removal of the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam and Elwha dam on the Elwha River - concluded in August 2014 - signaled the culmination of the largest dam-removal project in the world.8 A large-scale ecological restoration effort is currently underway along the Elwha, involving the monitoring of wild salmon populations and replanting of native plant species along degraded riverbank. And people are paying attention to the warning signs: according to American Rivers, nearly 850 dams have been removed in the United States in the last 20 years.8 We are beginning to realize that our frenetic parasitism of the land is unsustainable, that relentless damming is threatening to kill the very rivers upon which we are dependent. However, with everincreasing energy demands and drought plaguing the Midwest, the need for alternative energy sources and clean water is growing, rendering hydroelectric dams a favorable source of power and plunging the fate of American rivers into uncertainty. Nearly ten years later, I found myself standing on the banks of the Elwha with my classmates, looking down upon the newlyliberated river. The skeleton of the hydroelectric facility remained - wicked black bolts spattered the face of concrete cliffs and chopped pillars of foundation rose solemnly from the base - but the river ran. Unrestrained, decongested, wild. While only the first step in the widespread resuscitation of the Pacific Northwest watershed, the Elwha’s transformation from trickle to torrent, the reality of its rebirth - this is something to be proud of; this is something to celebrate.

University of Puget Sound

P h oto s by K i e r a n O’ N e i l

Advantages of Hydroelectric Power

The SUN hasn’t set on DARKROOMS by

here is little denying that manually processing a photograph is an antiquated, difficult, and time-consuming undertaking, which digital photography has made nigh-on pointless for most people. Modern digital cameras and computerized post-processing (editing, etc.) can produce images that are beautiful, easy to make, and which can be shot, rendered, and edited at virtually no cost once the necessary hardware has been bought. However, many would argue this digital process is lacking. At the risk of sounding cliche, working in a darkroom and developing and enlarging (i.e. printing) one’s own images by hand is arguably a much more artistic and rewarding undertaking than creating a similar image digitally. While digital and analog photography are not directly comparable on all levels, there is a distinct tactile element - an interaction with the image - present when one produces in a darkroom that simply cannot be emulated by any DSLR or software suite. Millennials are the last generation to see the commonplace use of film photography. Most people born before the mid-aughts grew up with their childhood memories emblazoned on 35mm panels of cellophane. While having only fully fallen out of vogue within the last decade, and despite the short-lived craze surrounding plastic Holgas and the endearing kitsch-value of 24-shot disposable cameras, there can be no denying mainstream film is undoubtedly in its waning days. However, now that the technology has entered its twilight years, film has also begun to garner a new and dedicated following among photographers. In 2012, Dennis Manarchy gained national attention with a piece he characterized as a swansong to film. Manarchy’s piece is a functional 35-foot long view camera (here, think Victorian era, with accordion-like bellows, and men operating them from beneath capes). The camera exposes 6’ tall film plates: single sheets of glass, coated in a photosensitive emulsion. Once developed, these plates can be enlarged to create prints that could cover a six-story building with no doctoring or manipulation of any kind, while remaining impeccably clear and sharp.2 Manarchy’s work is not only a memorial to film, but also a grand demonstration of film’s continued value. No matter how many megapixels engineers may pack into next year’s newest smartphone or mass market SLR, there are few digital cameras available which can yet contest the sheer quality and quantity of analog light data that medium-format and large-format film panels can capture through high-quality, finely-machined lenses.3 Digital may be easier, faster, and on many counts, cheaper, but good film photography can still hold its own. However, good film photography is seldom rendered at a drugstore kiosk or through a mail order lab (though this is not to imply these services are without merit). Producing a genuine quality image without the help of a computer requires immense sticktoitiveness, a dearth of light, and an earnest desire to maintain the practice of both the art and science of photography. As reliant

B enjamin G reene

on chemistry as it is on composition, processing and printing film isn’t a trivial undertaking; but for those willing to learn, it’s well worth the effort. Not surprisingly, the process begins when the film is exposed. All film consists of some type of base coated with a layer of photosensitive material, commonly referred to as the emulsion. Parenthetically, the following concerns only black and white film, as it is generally much easier to work with. The base of the consumer-grade films to which most people are accustomed is a greenish plastic with an emulsion strip of darker matte material on the back. In virtually all modern films, the emulsion consists of a dense layer of silver halide crystals, extremely photosensitive molecules consisting of silver or a synthetic silver compound and bound to a halogen element. When light is introduced, free-moving silver ions cluster around areas of greater exposure, thereby creating a latent image within the film’s emulsion.4 The analog photographer’s first task in the darkroom is converting this latent image into a more stable format: a negative. This process is tricky when working with cartridge films (like your normal 35mm film). The silver halide in modern films remains extremely sensitive, even after it has been exposed. As a result, the film must be taken out of its casing in complete darkness, leaving the photographer to work by feel alone while cracking the cartridge open, gently extracting the film, and winding it onto a holder for developing. This, all without ever touching the delicate emulsion. Once the film has been suspended, it is placed in a light-tight canister in which the actual developing takes place. While everyone has their own preferences, tricks, and habits in the darkroom, the developing process is generally the same: developer, stop bath, fixation, rinse, dry, and repeat. The specific chemicals used for developing film and photo-paper differ slightly, but the basic principles are constant.5 As with most chemical processes, these procedures are delicate. The developing chemical’s concentration, temperature, the amount of agitation applied, pKa, and how much light the photo-chemicals are exposed to are crucially important in controlling the developing process and producing a quality image (although modern chemicals do tend to be more forgiving). Developer is an alkaline solution that reduces the silver halide in the film through an oxidation-reduction reaction, causing the clusters of ionized silver-halide to become opaque. After each new chemical is applied, the film must be rinsed with either freshwater or a photo-flo solution. Once the developer has been cleaned away, it is followed by the aptly-named “stop bath”, or simply “stop” for short. Stop is a light mixture of water and acetic acid that is added to the film in order to effectively halt the redox reaction initiated by increasing the pH of the film. Ensuring the effectiveness of this stop process is crucial; if the stop

Elements Magazine

Photographs can be manipulated in all manner of ways when they are being enlarged, but everything must be done by hand all while fighting the clock. Exposing a negative onto photopaper is extremely time-sensitive; a print can easily turn into an unrecognizable mess if left for only a few misjudged seconds on the enlarger. Producing a good print requires testing the specific exposure time for a particular image and carefully preventing overexposure of the paper to light. Enlarging is the most difficult part of darkroom work; often images will persistently be ever so slightly off, no matter how many times you try to get the enlargement right. However, this trying process also allows the photographer to exercise immense artistic preference in the appearance of the final print. For example, a common technique, known as dodging and burning, in which a shadow is briefly

Once the paper leaves the enlarger, it is transferred to the ubiquitous chemical trays to undergo much the same process as the negative did while in the canister. The principal difference is that now, when the paper is applied to the alkaline developing solution, the photographer can finally see the finished image emerge on the blank paper. But here again, timing is everything; if it spends any more time in the developer than is absolutely necessary, the image will once again go dark. After a timed dip in the stop bath, fixer, and a few rinses in between, the print is done. Or at least will be once it’s had time to dry (in an hour or two). has been enlarged.

It could be argued that film photography and darkroom work are largely incompatible with the fast-paced, immediately gratifying, short-attention-spancentric world of the 21st century. Certainly, the average consumer-photographer isn’t likely to elect to spend a few hours burning through pricey chemicals, papers, and countless gallons of water, while wearing rubber gloves in a damp, acrid room with their pupils dilated when they could simply upload their weekend’s snapshots to Face-tagram instead. However, when it comes to taking a photograph, not a picture or snapshot, but a composed image that requires forethought and may even have meaning beyond what it literally depicts - these photographs aren’t meant to be easy. Perhaps, in a day and age in which Pulitzer-prize winning photographers are being laid off in favor of reporters’ smartphones (I’m looking at you, Chicago Sun Times), the challenge of developing an image by hand may serve an important purpose. The lines between what someone can make with professional or artistic-grade equipment and what can be shot carelessly with a basic camera are becoming increasingly blurred. However, half-decent manual photography, by virtue of its complexity and the knowledge required of those who practice it, cannot be a casual undertaking and may even become the last bastion of fine art photography.

University of Puget Sound

by B e n j a m i n G r e e n e

Once the negatives are dry, the real fun begins. The process of turning a small negative into a fullsized positive requires the use of an enlarger: a device that functions almost like a camera in reverse. Instead of focusing exterior light onto film, an enlarger sends its own light back through a developed negative, which the photographer may then focus Darkroom negative that onto a sheet of photo-paper. The photo-paper is similar in many respects to film; a lightsensitive silver or a barium-sulfate compound is exposed and ionized when hit with the enlarger’s light. Likewise, the paper cannot be exposed to any light before it has been developed. While not requiring total darkness (like film), photo-paper is nonetheless extremely susceptible to destruction by exposure to even gentle light and can only be worked with beneath dim red “safety lights”.

made over the paper while the enlarger is on, makes it possible to darken some areas of the image while overexposing others. When done properly, this can create an effect similar to - but far more pleasant than - the eye-burning High Dynamic Range (HDR) images that novice photographers nowadays seem to prefer. At this stage, the photographer can also crop, correct for under- or overexposure of the original photo, layer negatives (old school photo-merge), create panoramas, and apply all manner of post-processing. None of this is as easy as hitting an automate button in Photoshop, but the effects of these manual photo manipulations, when performed correctly, tend to produce a more subdued and elegant effect than what one often gets from a creative suite.

P h oto

becomes too acidic, it ceases to work, reducing all of the silver and turning the image black. To prevent this, many photographers monitor the pH of their stop with the help of an indicator stop bath, which changes color depending on how acidic or alkaline the solution. Finally, a fixation solution is poured into the developing canister. Fixer, as it is commonly known, removes the remaining unused silver-salts from the negative, thereby preventing further development over time through continued reduction/oxidation. Fix can take many forms for different applications, but the rapid fixer found in the average contemporary darkroom is an ammonium thiosulfate solution. Fix is usually the most toxic and the most valuable common darkroom chemical after usage. Over time, fixer will build up solid deposits of silver gleaned from the negatives. While visually appealing, silver buildup on the top means the fix is loaded with heavy metals and must be disposed of carefully, usually after reclaiming the valuable silver.

The

Musical Making of Einstein’s

Theory of Relativity by

W i k i m ed i a C o m m o n s

lbert Einstein is known today as the pivotal scientist of the 20th century, the Nobel-Prize winning physicist who pioneered the theory of relativity. Stereotypically, the mind of a great scientist is associated with cold, calculating rationality and logic. It would thus appear ironic that one of Einstein’s greatest passions was the enjoyment and playing of classical music - an art that calls for emotive expression and intrinsic intuition. As a struggling student, Einstein’s violin lessons served as a valuable emotional outlet. Once in frustration with his enduring drills, Einstein threw a chair at his teacher, who then fled from his house in tears.1 These lessons in perseverance, however, proved to be quite useful to Einstein. Later on, music became a source of inspiration for through long battles with complex mathematics. According to his sister Maja Einstein,” After playing piano, he would get up saying ‘There, now I’ve got it’. Something in the music would guide his thoughts in new and creative directions.”2 When Einstein moved to Aarau, Switzerland in 1895 to complete his secondary schooling, he devoted a substantial amount of his time to music, standing out for his passionate performances.3 Einstein’s friend, Janos Plesch, has remarked that “There are many musicians with much better technique, but none, I believe, who ever played with more sincerity or deeper feeling.” Later in life, Einstein was often invited to perform at benefit concerts. 3 To one critic, unaware of Einstein’s prime calling as a physicist, commented that “Einstein plays excellently. However, his worldwide fame is undeserved. There are many violinists who are just as good.” 3 But why was Einstein so encaptured by music, and how did it possibly aid him in his primary work? According to Einstein, music was a main contributor to his theoretical discoveries - “The theory of relativity occurred to me by intuition, and music is the driving force behind this intuition. My parents had me study the violin from the time I was six. My new discovery is the result of musical perception”4 Einstein’s study of music helped him access his intuitive, imaginative mode of thinking. For Einstein, the highest form of thought was not mathematical, but musical.2 While in the scientific world he was considered an innovator who radically overturned Newton’s classical cosmology, he ironically held conservative tastes regarding music genre. 3 Bach, and

M egan R eich

especially Mozart, were Einstein’s musical idols. Both Mozart and Einstein embody important transitional figures in their fields. Just as Einstein’s theory of relativity closed the book on classical physics, Mozart’s expansion of the length and substance of instrumental works served as the platform upon which Beethoven brought on the full transition to the Romantic era of music.5 Mozart’s ability to compose music throughout his life in spite of impoverished conditions and financial trouble was especially motivating to Einstein; it was in 1905, while living in a cramped apartment and experiencing marriage and monetary issues, that Einstein first discovered the idea of relativity.1 Einstein was considerably less enthusiastic about the music of more contemporary composers. On Richard Wagner, known for introducing new elements of chromatism in his music dramas that stretched the bounds of harmonic vocabulary, Einstein remarked that “I admire Wagner’s inventiveness, but I see his lack of architectural structure as decadence. Moreover, to me his musical personality is indescribably offensive so that for the most part I can only listen with disgust.” 3 (Of course, it probably didn’t help that Wagner’s music was used by Hitler as an emblem of German nationalism associated with anti-Semitism.) Einstein has characterized Mozart’s music as “ so pure that it seemed to have been ever-present in the universe, waiting to be discovered by the master.”4 This notion was particularly aligned with Einstein’s philosophy that beyond observation and theory, the universe was ultimately contained in the harmonious “music of the spheres” - the Ptolemaic cosmology grounded in the aesthetics of perfect form and symmetry.1 For Einstein, pre-existing laws of nature were waiting to be discovered, just as the elegant melody and form of Mozart’s compositions seemed to arise perfectly pre-formed. Einstein aspired to unravel the complexity of the universe and produce a simple, elegant explanation, just as Mozart was able to compose a beautifully-structured work unified as one whole from an infinite possibility of timbres and tones.1 Pure thought triumphed over lengthy, complex calculation, as suggested by Einstein’s glowing praise: “Mozart’s music is so pure and beautiful that I see it as a reflection of the inner beauty of the universe.”6

Elements Magazine

Welcome to the P h oto s by K i r a T h u r m a n a n d W i k i m ed i a C o m m o n s

Warning: Just like the layers of an onion, the Allium is layered with comedy, artistry, and more!

University of Puget Sound

Studies Show Most Americans’ Response to Global Warming is… What’s Global Warming? B y C ha se H utchin so n

ccording to a most recent study, most Americans consider Global Warming to be the next One Direction album to come out. Thankfully, it is not that bad. Global Warming is absolutely nothing to worry about. It is simply just the largest contributor to the slow and steady destruction of the world. No, we aren’t talking about the One Direction album again. For those in our study that knew what Global Warming really is actually are looking forward to our impending demise. Here were some of their responses:

Gradual rising of sea levels means that we will have more room for surfing and water activities. I’ve always looked at the entire east coast and thought that what it could really use is hundreds of miles of beaches. I mean, who doesn’t love surfing and swimming? If movies have taught me anything, the apocalypse is super cool. It means we finally get to run around with no rules and be total badasses. The best movies take place when we see humanity in a glamorized, violent world and movies always translate directly to life perfectly! I can finally go outside with my bro-tank and shorts. Usually it is just too darn cold for that. Now, I am just free to frolick and play without worrying about pesky frostbite. We can finally stop having to recycle already! I mean, if we just let the Earth go quietly that means I can finally just chuck my various bottles and cans wherever I want to without a care in the world. No more carpooling with my neighbor Larry. Now, I just get back to driving my huge truck instead of riding shotgun in Larry’s puny little smart car. It was about time, I really could not hear one more story about his kids or hear any more Simon and Garfunkel songs. He keeps saying they’re classic, but they really just depress the hell out of me. We don’t need to do another 5K to raise funds to stop this “supposedly” bad thing. Now we can instead run from predators and various other people as we have to now fight for resources, which, like, sounds super fun! We don’t have to listen to environmentalists any more! With their constant yammering about saving this species or that, now we can just literally punt a squirrel if we want! In fact, we should make that a sport: Squirrel punting. Who cares if it’s “endangered” or is key to biodiversity of an ecosystem, that’s just more of their technical, sciencey babble. All I know is that I want to kick some furry creatures!

2 3 4 5 6 7

I don’t have to worry how many times I flush! I just can flush and flush without worrying about water conservation. We will have plenty more water to when that ocean over yonder floods a bit higher. At least, that’s what my ol’ grandpa Jed told me, and he used to be a science teacher at my elementary school, which means he really knows what’s going on. Following the results of these studies, we have actually begun to ourselves doubt whether Global Warming is really that bad after all. I mean, how could so many people be wrong? Most of the people who believe in Global Warming are just pessimists who aren’t looking at the glass half full. Not like us, we are now deciding to look at the glass half full. In fact, the glass is now overflowing with all the water that we now have! Isn’t life just grand? In fact, since we already are going past the point of no return to this wonderful new worry-free world, we are just going to print this article on dead trees just to show how much we don’t care about the planet anymore. I always hated trees anyways. Always looking so tall and important. They just thought they were better than all of us. Now we are better than trees. That’s right, us. Humanity has now become the true dominant species by making the planet, our own planet for just us. In fact, I think we literally are the only living things left. But hey, we don’t need any other living things, and we probably won’t have any at the rate we are killing them off. Good riddance! Now we can lather on our sun block and hit the beach worry free! Global Warming Truthers had it right all along! This may just be the best thing that has ever happened to us! Ah, this is great. Wait, I’m finding having trouble breathing….I’m probably just tired from all the fun I’m having. I should go out and play more. I am feeling short of breath though… I wonder why that is? It’s probably nothing to worry about.

Elements Magazine

Elementian Humor

Comics by Kyle Kolisch University of Puget Sound

#SciencePeopleProblems

Elements took to social media and here is what happened... By Megan Reich

Elements Magazine

P h oto s by M e g a n Re i c h a n d K i r a T h u r m a n u si n g I n s t a g r a m

University of Puget Sound

Homing By Emily Smaldone

P h oto by B l a ke H e s s e l

An ocean lies gaping, a yawning expanse, a wat’ry cathedral whose myriad gables rise vaulted above as the sun-salted waves. Through this sky without air soar beasts without wings on billowing tempests of wind-bestirred sea that roar ‘neath the beams of this half-lighted nave. In all of that ocean, in all of that space, comes an auspicious current, a wisp of a breeze spiced with the scents that the salmon-fish crave, beneath the great hook of a Puget Chinook. It’s seasoned with river bound tightly by banks, the flanks of that streambed that life to him gave. Over those banks bent the willow trees, murm’ring, to witness that egg as it grew to a smolt and one day in wanderlust parted to brave the sea. There he feasted, forgot that sweet stream ‘til the prey lost its flavor, the ocean its gleam and an ache stirred by scents that his mem’ry had saved drew him once more to the bound Puget Sound. Past deltal brack’s bitterness, northward and eastward up roaring foam rivers he rages and raves. He knows, that Chinook, that home has but one scent that saturates thought and awakens what hunger lay dormant, now sparking in dim soulful caves. Many waters of rivers cannot quench those flames, but carry to solace the brave burning traveler who dies in the cradle, is born in the grave.

Elements Magazine

Dam!

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A salmon hits a road block. Despite having a keen sense of smell, the poor fish cannot reach its homeland - unlike generations before.

Illustration by Kyle Kolisch

University of Puget Sound

Spooky Science Were you stuck in trying to come up with a Halloween costume this last fall? Never fear! Elements Staff has brainstormed some great ideas that are sure to win any costume contest!

Pavlov’s Dog

“Whenever you hear a bell, you expect a treat!”

Sex y Bac teria

Schrödinger’s Cat

“I’d risk one night for you!”

“Will you be dead or alive in the morning? No one knows!”

D rawings 28

Elements Magazine

M arissa C rof t

e l c i t r a P c i m o ? t u a o b Y u e S Ar What

By Angelica Kong 1. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? a. Everywhere and anywhere. At the same time. (3) b. Travel? Meh… (1) c. Disneyland! So magical! (2) d. Somewhere you wouldn’t even think of. (4) 2. Choose a favorite science class: a. I don’t care. (1) b. Physics, the laws of the universe! (3) c. All of them?? I can’t decide! (2) d. I’m going to invent my own field of science and name it after myself. (4) 3. Choose a non-science class: a. Oh, the humanities! (2) b. Why bother? I suck at everything else… (3) c. Wait, are you trying to stalk my class schedule? I’ll never tell you. (4) d. Whatever will let me graduate on time. (1) 4. You are bored and drawing a picture of an elephant: a. It looks kinda like an elephant. (1) b. You can’t tell what it is unless you know where to look. (4) c. It’s pink and blue and green and yellow and has big ears! (3) d. I already gave up ‘cause elephants are too hard. (2) 5. You just heard an awesome song: a. I’ll make my own remix of it! (4) b. Play it on repeat! (1) c. Learn how to play it on my harmonica! (2) d. Buy tickets to see them in concert! Woo! (3)

University of Puget Sound

(5-7) Neutron As a neutron, you like to chill quietly in the midst of everything while everyone else is bustling around you. You tend to not take sides on most things, and because of this, conflict isn’t really your jam. You don’t really care about much, do you? There’s nothing wrong with you, but all you do is add extra weight to the group. Not to sound harsh, but try not to be such a Bohr. (8-10) Proton Even in the darkest times, staying positive is never a struggle for you. It’s pretty much in your nature to be positive all the time. Unlike your close friend the neutron, you are the one that really stands out in your friend group, and your defining characteristics make your social circle unique from others. You have a strong personality, which results in strong social interaction skills that keep you closest to the people you love. (11-13) Electron Like the busiest bee around, you are constantly bustling with activity and running all over the place. So much in fact, that it’s impossible for anyone to know where you might be at any given time throughout the day. You are very easily excited, and have no trouble getting on other people’s levels. But maybe if you had more down-time, you wouldn’t have such a stressful, negative outlook on life. (14-16) Quark Needless to say, you are very tiny. Although you are often overlooked and underestimated, you are very important to the natural order of everything. You act as a vital support system for your peers, and although you are also dependent on them, they depend on you too, and they would be nothing without your existence. Just remember, size doesn’t matter - size IS matter. And in this case, less is more. (17-20) Higgs boson All in all, you are very secretive and mysterious and you never minded being a lone wolf. Even though you’ve been around the whole time, you never made it onto people’s radar. However, you’ve recently been discovered, and more people are starting to pay attention to you. It’s okay though, because they don’t really understand you anyway, and you’re too cool for people to even comprehend. Your incredible and infinite knowledge may hold the key to the secrets of the world, but there’s no way you’re going to give up that knowledge so easily.

CITATIONS

GENETICS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA 1. Bengston M. Types of schizophrenia [Internet]. Psych Central. c2006; [cited 2014 Nov. 3]. Available from http://psychcentral.com/lib/types-ofschizophrenia/000714/2. 2. National Institute of Mental Health. What is schizophrenia [Internet]? [cited 2014 Nov. 3]. Available from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/ schizophrenia/index.shtml#part1. 3. Mejia J. Schizophrenia is actually eight distinct genetic disorders: New study. Newsweek [Internet]. 2014 Sept. 18 [cited 2014 Nov. 3]. Available from http://www.newsweek.com/schizophrenia-actually-eight-distinctgenetic-disorders-according-new-study-271407. 4. Arnedo J, Svrakic D.M, del Val C., Romero-Zaliz R., Hernandez-Cuervo H., Molecular Genetics of Schizophrenia Consortium, Fanous A.H., Pato M.T., Pato C.N., de Erausquin G.A., Cloninger R., Zwir I. Uncovering the hidden risk of architecture of the schizophrenias: Conformation in three independent genome-wide association studies. AJP in Advance. 2014.:1-15. Doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2014.14040435. MICROPLASTICS 1. Singh, B., and Sharma, N. (2008). Mechanistic implications of plastic degradation. Polymer Degradation and Stability, 93, 561–584. 2. Canesi, L., Ciacci, C., Fabbri, R., Marcomini, A., Pojana, G., & Gallo, G. (2012). Bivalve molluscs as a unique target group for nanoparticle toxicity. Marine Environmental Research, 76, 16-21. 3. Rochman, C. M. (2013). Plastics and priority pollutants: A multiple stressor in aquatic habitats. Environmental Science & Technology, 47, 2439-2440. 4. Ivar do Sul, J. A., & Costa, M. F. (2013). The present and future of microplastic pollution in the marine environment. Environmental Pollution, 185, 352-364. 5. Canesi, L., Fabbri, R., Gallo, G., Vallotto, D., Marcomini, A., & Pojana, G. (2010). Biomarkers in Mytilus galloprovincialis exposed to suspensions of selected nanoparticles (nano carbon black, c60 fullerene, nano-tio2, nano-sio2). Aquatic Toxicology, 100(2), 168-177. 6. Cole, M., Lindeque, P., Fileman, E., Halsband, C., Goodhead, R., Moger, J., & Galloway, T. S. (2013). Microplastic ingestion by zooplankton. Environmental Science & Technology, 47(12), 6646-6655. 7. Dethier, M. N. (2006). Native shellfish in nearshore environments in Puget Sound. Technical Report. 8. Elliott, J., Holmes, K., Chambers, R., Leon, K., & Wimberger, P. (2008). Differences in morphology and habitat use among the native mussel Mytilus trossulus, the non-native M. galloprovincialis, and their hybrids in Puget Sound, Washington. Marine Biology, 156, 39-53. 9. Browne, M. A., Dissanayake, A., Galloway, T. S., Lowe, D. M., & Thompson, R. C. (2008). Ingested microscopic plastic translocates to the circulatory system of the mussel, Mytilus edulis. Environmental science & technology, 42(13), 5026-5031. 10. Ward, J. E., & Shumway, S. (2004). Separating the grain from the chaff: Particle selection in suspension- and deposit-feeding bivalves. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 300(1-2), 83-130. 11. Wright, S. L., Thompson, R. C., & Galloway, T. S. (2013). The physical impact of microplastics on marine organisms: A review. Environmental pollution, 17. TIME 1. Lee, Heejin and Whitley, Edgar A. Time and Information Technology: Temporal Impacts on Individuals, Organizations, and Society. The Information Society, 18:235-240, 2002.HowStuffWorks “Absolute Time and Relative Time.” 2. Klein, Stefan. The Secret Pulse of Time. Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2006. Print. 3. HowStuffWorks. [accessed 2014 Sep 29]. http://science.howstuffworks. com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/time-dilation.htm Edge Foundation. This Explains Everything. ed. John Brockman. New York: HarperCollins, 2013. 5. Internal Time: The Science of Chronotypes, Social Jet Lag, and Why You’re So Tired. Brain Pickings. [accessed 2014 Oct 12]. http://www.brainpickings.org/2012/05/11/internal-time-till-roenneber/ 6. Roenneberg T, Wirz-Justice A, Merrow M. 2003. Life between Clocks: Daily Temporal Patterns of Human Chronotypes. J Biol Rhythms 18:80–90. [accessed 2014 Sep 29] 7. Dominoni DM, Helm B, Lehmann M, Dowse HB, Partecke J. 2013. Clocks for the city: circadian differences between forest and city songbirds. Proc. R. Soc. B 280:20130593. [accessed 2014 Sep 29] 8. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow, the secret to happiness | Talk Video | TED.com. [accessed 2014 Nov 3]. http://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow?language=en

TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURIES 1. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Internet]. Atlanta (GA): Injury Prevention & Control: Traumatic Brain Injury; c1997-2007 [modified 2014 Mar 6; cited 2014 Oct 24]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/ traumaticbraininjury/ 2. http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/tbi/ 3.http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/traumatic-brain-injury/ basics/definition/con-20029302 4. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/tbi/tbi.htm CLOGGED 1. Clean Energy: Hydroelectricity. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2013. http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/. 2. Sanguri M. Negative impacts of hydroelectric dams. Bright Hub Engineering 2013. http://www.brighthubengineering.com/geotechnical-engineering/. 3. Hydropower: Frequently Asked Questions. National Hydropower Association 2014. http://www.hydro.org/tech-and-policy/faq/. 4. Environment: How a hydroelectric project can affect a river. Foundation for Water and Energy Education 2014. http://fwee.org/environment/howa-hydroelectric-project-can-affect-a-river/. 5. Environmental Impacts of Hydroelectric Power. Union of Concerned Scientists 2013. http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/. 6. Stepien CA, Brown JE, Neilson ME, Tumeo MA. Genetic diversity of invasive species in the Great Lakes versus their Eurasian source populations: insights for risk analysis. Risk Analysis 2005; 25: 1043–1060. 7. Baxter RM. Environmental effects of dams and impoundments. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 1977; 8: 255-283. 8. Nijhuis M. World’s largest dam removal unleashes U.S. river after century of electric production. National Geographic News (Aug. 26, 2014). STRESS 1. Buchanan, T.W. & Preston, S.D. (2014). Stress leads to prosocial action in immediate need situations. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. 2014: 8. 2. Randal, M. The Physiology of Stress: Cortisol and the HypothalamicPituitary-Adrenal Axis. Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science. 2014: 1-4. 3. G.S. Everly and J.M. Lating, A Clinical Guide to the Treatment of the Human Stress Response. Springer Science and Business. 2013: 17-49. 4. Sheridan, J. Effects of Chronic Stress Can be Traced to Your Genes. Ohio State University. 2013. 5. National Institute of Mental Health. Stress Hormone Elevation is Associated With Working Memory Deficits in Aging. Journal of Neuroscience. 2014. 6. Kelly, M. Physical Exercise Prevents Stress-Induced Activation of Granule Neurons and Enhances Local Inhibitory Mechanisms in the Dentate Gyrus. Princeton University. 2013. ETHANOL 1. Goldemberg, Jose. “Ethanol for a Sustainable Energy Future.” Science 9 Feb. 2007: 808-10. JSTOR. Web. 1 Nov. 2014. <http://www.jstor.org/ stable/20038951>. 2. Martinelli, Luiz A., and Solange Filoso. “Expansion of Sugarcane Ethanol Production in Brazil: Environmental and Social Challenges.” Ecological Applications June 2008: 885-98. JSTOR. Web. 1 Nov. 2014. <http://www.jstor. org/stable/40062197>. DARK ROOMS 1. ”New official portrait released Wednesday”. change.gov, Office of the President-Elect. January 14, 2009.; “KODACHROME Discontinuation Notice”. Kodak. June 22, 2009. Retrieved June 23, 2009. http://www.npr.org/ blogs/pictureshow/2012/03/02/147796341/as-film-fades-photographermakes-a-huge-huge-statement 2. Resolution Test Area 2: trees and Mountains R. N. Clark, 8 April 2001. Retrieved 2 September 2006. 3. Upton, Barbara London with Upton, John (1989). Photography (4th ed). BL Books, Inc./Scott, Foresman and Company. ISBN 978-0-673-39842-0. 4.<ahref=”http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/1212/The-Chemistry-of-Developers-and-the-Development-Processe.html”>The Chemistry of Developers and the Development Processe - Development Processes, Physical Development, Using a Metal Ion Developing Agent, Using an Organic Developing Agent</a> SCIENCE PEOPLE PROBLEMS elementsmagazine on Instagram. [accessed 2014 Nov 16]. http://instagram.com/elementsmagazine

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University of Puget Sound

Elements Magazine